NICE TOASTY RIDE

 With temps hovering near 90 (88 actually) we still had 17 riders in or on 14 units show up at Casey's for our Wednesday night ride.  Bike riders were Tom (newbie), Chuckles, Lois, Jim G & Cathy (who?), Dee, Mike, and Jim D.  Trikes were operated by Roger, ChucK, Darrel, Dave M, and Bob R.  The Spyder had Richard & Melody aboard, and the "support" convertible was driven by Dale with Greg as passenger.

CHUCKLES & LOIS GREET TOM (NEWBIE)

ROGER HAS A DEPARTING DRINK

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?  MUST BE NEWBIES!

DEE & ChucK ARRIVE

MIKE CRUISES PAST DEE

DARREL WITH MATCHING YELLOW JACKET

DAVE SURVEYS THE SITUATION FROM THE SHADE

We depart Casey's at 5 and with Mt. Hope as our destination, we turn right at the stop light on Main and head east out on the Elon Road.  It had rained here earlier in the day, so we were expecting to see a lot of humidity in the air, but there was very little if any, so our views of the scenery were very clear.

At the end of the Elon Road, we turned south onto the Lansing/Harpers Road and made our way down the hills into Harpers Ferry.  Once in Harpers, we turned onto the Great River Road and continued along the edge of the Mississippi River up to HWY 76.  Some of us were able to see a real treat as we cruised along the river.  I pointed out to a bald eagle that dived into the river and came out with a fish in its beak.

Once reaching HWY 76, we turned south and made our way into Marquette, crossed the bridge into Prairie du Chien, and followed HWY 18 to CR C near Bridgeport.  We turned onto C which is a narrow stretch of blacktop that runs east along the south bank of the Wisconsin River.  This is a tree lined drive that offered us some cool shade.

CR C terminates at HWY 133 where we turned south and took in some sweeping curves until we arrived at HWY 18 again.  After a short jog east on 18 we rolled into the metropolis of Mt. Hope and stopped for cold drinks at Home A'gin pub.  I have been to this pub many times before, and it always seems to be busy.  That's probably because they serve good food at a very reasonable price.  Their Friday night fish fry is the best around.  They also serve breakfast, and have all-you-can-eat homemade pizza for $4 on Saturdays starting at 5.  Also on the first Saturday evening they have all-you-can-eat barbecue ribs.

After refreshing ourselves at Home A'gin's, we left Mt. Hope via CR JJ and arrived back on HWY 18.  We followed 18 back west to CR P near Patch Grove and turned west onto it.  CR P is kind of a roller coaster type of road, as you travel up and down some long hiils.  After our jaunt down P, we turned onto CR X for a short distance south and then onto CR C and back east to HWY 18 again.

HWY 18 took us back through PDC and across the bridge again into Marquette where some of us took the planned route back up HWY 76 while some continued on 18 back home. Because of the split, we lost a couple of riders who had to catch up to us later.  I guess that brings up a second important point to remember on our rides.  (IF YOU PLAN TO EXIT FROM THE RIDE EARLY BEFORE IT ENDS, THEN MOVE TO THE REAR, SO NO ONE ACCIDENTALLY FOLLOWS YOU.  Otherwise you may have an unexpected guest staying at your home for the night!

The group that followed HWY 76 back to Waukon was able to travel on a highway that is being resurfaced.  Since it was late, there were no workers present, so we did not have to stop for a pilot car.  The highway is much improved (it couldn't get much worse) and there are some more lifts of asphalt to be put down yet.  The plan was to return this way because HWY 18 is still closed at Froelich and you have to detour through Farmersburg to get past Monona.

The HWY 76 group made its way to the Uptown for eats where the conversation turned to "big ass" fish.  I had 117 miles on the trike after arriving home.  WELCOME TO TOM, AND HOPEFULLY HE WILL BE ABLE TO JOIN US AGAIN.

WHAT'S UPCOMING?

Bob R will be gone for the next two Wednesday nights and for the planned Mystery Ride on August 12th, so you will need a new leader(s) for these rides.  He will be gone on the ride to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan starting on Monday the 31st of July and ending on Saturday August 5th.  After returning home on the 5th, he will depart on the 7th for a family reunion in the Ozarks from the 8th through the 12th.  He will arrive back home on the 13th and participate in the trike ride for the Good Sam residents on Monday, the 14th.  WHEW!

TRIKE RIDES FOR GOOD SAM 

After visiting with the activities director at Good Sam on Wednesday and going over the ground rules for the ride on August 14 at 10 AM, she informed me that there will be close to 23 riders that day.  Ron, ChucK, and Bob are giving the rides, but with that many potential riders, we may need some help.  So if any of the trike riders in our Wednesday Night Riders group would like to help, get in touch with Bob.

FINALLY